


You're Sublime, You're A Turkey Dinner

by writetherest



Series: Megan/Peter Holiday Fics [1]
Category: Body of Proof
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-12
Updated: 2013-08-12
Packaged: 2017-12-23 06:34:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/923133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writetherest/pseuds/writetherest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It wasn't a perfect Hallmark Thanksgiving by any means. </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're Sublime, You're A Turkey Dinner

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Body of Proof Holiday Fic Fest prompt: surgeons are really good at carving. Title taken from the Cole Porter song _You're The Top_ , which also factors into the story.

As the Thanksgiving Day Parade played on the television, Megan Hunt sat on her couch, drinking wine and filling in paperwork. Although it was only a little after 9, Megan felt no qualms about drinking that early. It had been a long and stressful week and now she was alone on what could be described as the poster holiday for family. If that didn't deserve a nice glass of wine, she didn't know what did.  
Lacey had decided to spend the day with Todd at his family's celebration and although it shouldn't have affected her because it was certainly not the first holiday she had spent without Lacey - often by her own volition - it hit her more this year. She had thought that they had made progress this year and that perhaps Lacey would decide she wanted to spend the day with her, but Lacey hadn't even given a second thought about going with Todd - at least in Megan's mind.

Joan had once again invited her to come and spend Thanksgiving with her, but Megan couldn't find it in herself to go to her mother's and have to preen and pretend that they were a happy family all day when they clearly weren't. Nothing she had ever done seemed to be enough for her mother, and she still held on - maybe too tightly - to the fact that her mother hadn't been there in the hospital when she woke up and had abandoned her shortly thereafter when all her other friends had too. She would not be setting foot at her mother's house today.

Taking another drink of her wine, Megan shifted the papers and picked up her pen to start on the next stack when there was a knock at the door. Her heart skipped a beat at the sound as she considered who it could be. She tried not to get her hopes up, but the thought that Lacey could've changed her mind filled her head. Who else could possibly be knocking on her door on Thanksgiving morning?

As she headed toward the door after setting her drink down, all Megan could think about was how she didn't have anything even remotely resembling a Thanksgiving meal in her apartment. There was possibly a frozen pizza in the freezer, but that was about it. Still, there had to be some place in all of Philadelphia that would be open for her to buy dinner. She would drive wherever she had to, if Lacey wanted her to. She would even go to Joan's for dinner if it would make Lacey happy.

Megan pulled the door open, her smile wide, only to be met with Peter, instead of Lacey. Her smile faltered. "Peter? What are you doing here?"

Peter peeked around her to look into the apartment. "The better question is what are you doing here?"  
He shifted and slipped in past her.

"Please, come in." Megan sighed as she watched him enter her apartment.

"It's a little early to be drinking, isn't it?" Peter held up the glass of wine towards her.

"Are you the alcohol police, now?" Megan bit out, frustrated by the ache in her heart that was caused by Peter showing up. He'd gotten her hopes up, however unintentionally, and now they'd been dashed yet again. She should be used to that feeling, but found that she wasn't.

Peter chose to ignore her comment and looked down at the stacks of paperwork sitting on the coffee table.

"Peter, what are you doing here?" Megan asked again, trying to sound less snippy this time.

"You left your coat at the office," Peter held out his arm, over which Megan's black pea coat was draped. "I thought you might need it."

"So you decided to bring it to me on Thanksgiving Day, because you've got nothing better to do?" Megan challenged.

"Lacey isn't with you?" Peter asked, avoiding her question.

He watched as the sadness flicked through her eyes before she managed to contain it. She'd probably thought that he was Lacey when he knocked on the door. Damn.

"She's spending the holiday with Todd at his family's." Megan tried to sound nonchalant about it, as she grabbed her wine glass from his hand and finished it off.

"What about your mother? Not spending the day with her?"

Megan managed a laugh at that. "No. I'd rather stay here with my wine and my paperwork, thank you very much."

Peter laughed too. That sounded more like the Megan he knew and - the Megan he knew.

"And what about you, Peter? Shouldn't you be with your family today?" She turned the tables as she sat back down on the couch.

"Ah, yes, and I will be in about an hour. I just wanted to drop your coat off before I headed over there."  
Megan noticed the note of hesitation in Peter's voice when he spoke about being with his family.

"You don't want to be with your family today, either?" It didn't seem like him at all to not want to be with them. He'd been a bit embarrassed by his sisters showing up at work, but had been happy to see them too, and she knew that he was close with his family. So why did he sound so hesitant about spending the day with them?

"What? No. Of course I do." Peter argued. "It's just - it's the first Thanksgiving without my father."  
Megan's hand reached out without a thought, squeezing Peter's arm. "I'm sorry. I know how hard that must be."

"They want me to carve the turkey. That was always my dad's job." Peter sank down on the couch beside her and shook his head. Then he refocused on Megan. "I hear that surgeons are pretty good with a knife."

"Ah, surgeons, yes. But as you may recall, I'm no longer a surgeon because I killed someone on the operating table." She managed to say it calmly but he knew that she still felt horrible about it.

"Turkey's already dead. And cooked." He pointed out.

"I've been drinking. Definitely not a good time to handle a knife." She retorted.

"We don't have to leave for a while. It'll give you plenty of time to get sober."

"Are you being serious?" Megan asked, incredulously. "You want me to come to Thanksgiving dinner with your family?"

"Would it be so bad?" Peter asked.

"I - " she didn't have an answer to that. "I just can't believe you're asking me."

"So, what do you say? Wanna carve the turkey for my family this Thanksgiving?"

"Peter."

"You've got something better to do?" He tried, his eyes making their way to the television, where a musical number was just beginning.

"I happen to enjoy this musical very much." Megan pronounced.

"Well good. We can watch the number, you can sober up, and then we can go."

Megan said nothing, just turned to the television where the opening bars were being sung.

_At words poetic I'm so pathetic that I always have found it best, instead of getting them off my chest, to let them rest, unexpressed_

She knew that Peter was just trying to get her out of the house, to make it so that she wasn't alone for the holiday. But he also truly did seem to want her there for the first holiday without his father. A friend to lean on. And she'd certainly leaned on him enough lately, even if he often didn't know how much.

_I hate parading my serenading as I'll probably miss a bar, but if this ditty is not so pretty, at least it'll tell you how great you are_

They watched the rest of the performance together, with each of them singing under their breath. After it was over, she found herself being helped into the very coat that Peter still had slung over his arm and escorted out to his car.

**

It wasn't a perfect Hallmark Thanksgiving by any means.

Megan felt awkward the moment when she was introduced (or reintroduced in the case of his sisters) to Peter's family and no one seemed to know what to say or how to classify Megan, not even Megan and Peter themselves. She wasn't his girlfriend, that they both quickly pointed out, but saying they were coworkers felt odd as well. Peter finally settled on the moniker which got a small smile out of Megan. "This is my friend, Megan."

She expected some resistance from the other members of the Dunlop clan when Peter handed her the carving knife, but no one said anything, they all just watched her. She felt more nervous wielding that knife than she had in all the years she'd been doing brain surgery. If she screwed this up...

But she didn't. She managed to expertly carve the turkey to the ohs, ahs, and applause of Peter's family, and she could see the gratefulness in his eyes, which was all that really mattered to her in the end.  
When her paresthesia acted up and caused her to drop her fork and send corn scattering, Peter just took her hands in his own and rubbed them. She kept her head down, embarrassed, until a few peas skidded across the table and fell into her lap.

"Oops?" Peter's niece Lily giggled, her eyes on the center of the table where the corn from Megan's plate and the peas from hers had mixed together.

Peter's mother laughed and the rest of the table soon joined in. "I was wondering how long it would be before the attempts at a food fight started."

Megan's head shot up at that and Peter laughed, giving her hands a quick squeeze before releasing them.

"Peter usually starts the attempts."

"Really?" Megan found herself grinning at this newly acquired knowledge.

"One time. Once! And I was ten."

"Never living it down, baby brother." His sister smirked.

The rest of the meal passed easily and Megan felt more and more comfortable as the evening went on. She even helped to clean up afterwards, even though Peter's mother and sisters all tried to shoo her away.

When it was finally time to leave, Peter's mother wouldn't let her go without taking a homemade pumpkin pie with her. She tried to protest, but Peter just took the pie and promised that he'd leave it with Megan.

Lily raced up to hug her tightly as they were heading for the door. "Bye, Megan!"

"Bye, Lily. It was nice to meet you." Megan smiled for her.

"Will you be here for Christmas Eve?" Lily asked, her large brown eyes wide and innocent.

Everyone seemed to stop at those words. "Uh, well, I -" Megan didn't know what to say.

"Megan's got a pretty busy work schedule. And she might be spending Christmas with her family, kiddo." Peter stepped in.

"Oh." Lily frowned for a moment, before turning her eyes back to Megan. "Well, can you at least help Uncle Peter with the Christmas shopping? I really want the Barbie that has the designable hair extensions, and boys aren't the best at picking out things like that."

Megan had to laugh. "No, boys aren't. I promise I'll make sure your Uncle Peter gets the right thing."

"Thanks, Megan." Lily smiled widely and hugged her tightly again, to Megan's surprise.

After a round of goodbyes, they headed to the car and Peter drove her home, the pumpkin pie placed safely on the back floor.

**

When they arrived at her building, Megan turned and smiled at Peter. "Thanks for inviting me. It was... fun."

Peter smiled back. "Thanks for coming. Your carving was excellent."

Megan rolled her eyes and climbed out of the car.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Peter asked, and when she turned, she saw he was holding the pumpkin pie.

"Peter."

"I'm bringing it up, as my mother demanded." He grinned, falling into step with her.

"I do not need a whole pie."

"Well, you're taking it, regardless."

They were still bickering easily about the pie when Megan opened her door to reveal Lacey, sitting on the couch.

"Lacey?"

"Mom? Where've you been?" Lacey looked between her mother and Peter, surprised to find him standing next to her.

"I went to dinner with Peter. I didn't know you were coming over. If I had -"

"It's okay." Lacey assured quickly. "I just got here about ten minutes ago. I had dad drop me off on the way home from Grandma's. I thought maybe I could stay here tonight and we could go shopping tomorrow?"

Peter winced as he thought of shopping on Black Friday, but Megan's face split into a wide smile. "That sounds wonderful."

"And now, you have pie to eat when you get home." Peter teased, setting it down on the counter before heading back toward the door. "Happy Thanksgiving, Megan. Sorry for stealing your mom, Lacey."

"Happy Thanksgiving, Peter." Lacey smiled. "And I'm glad she had somewhere to go."

Megan looked back at Peter and smiled. "Thank you," she said, and she meant it. "Happy Thanksgiving."

As Peter left the apartment, she swore he was humming _You're The Top_ under his breath, but before she could analyze it, Lacey grabbed her arm and started interrogating her about her evening.

**

On Friday afternoon, Megan arrived at the morgue looking slightly worn out, but happy. Peter smiled upon seeing her. "So, how'd shopping go?"

"It was ridiculous," Megan rolled her eyes. "Remind me never to go Black Friday shopping in heels again."

Peter laughed. He could just see Megan all decked out, fighting the crowds.

"But, it was a great morning. We got a lot of good shopping done. And," Megan pulled a bag from behind her back, "I picked this up for you."

Peter's brow furrowed, and he reached into the bag. What on earth could she have gotten him?

Upon pulling it out, he had to laugh. It was the Barbie that Lily had described the night before. "You bought the Barbie."

"Well, I couldn't have you getting the wrong thing. I promised Lily, after all."

Peter opened his mouth to reply, but their phones began to go off in unison.

"Looks like we've got a body," Megan was already heading out the door.

Peter followed her with a smile. It had been a great Thanksgiving, but now it was time to get back to work. He'd worry about getting Megan to come to Christmas Eve dinner later.  



End file.
